Cardinal George Pell takes control of the Vatican’s finances and outlines sweeping reforms

Dublin: Australian Cardinal George Pell has taken personal control of the Vatican’s finances in a reform unprecedented in living memory – but says he is facing “sadness and antagonism” from the old guard at the heart of the Catholic empire.

In an exclusive interview with respected Vatican reporter John L Allen Jr, Cardinal Pell said his mission was “to be boringly successful, to get off the gossip pages”.

Sweeping changes ... Cardinal George Pell outlines his plans to restructure the scandal-ridden Vatican Bank as he introduces the institution's new president, French businessman Jean-Baptise de Franssu, at the Vatican. Photo: Reuters

On Wednesday, Cardinal Pell held a press conference to announce his economic plan for the Holy See, building on a reform framework approved by the Pope earlier this year.

In February, Cardinal Pell was appointed prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy.

He revealed on Wednesday he had brought in Danny Casey, his former business manager of the archdiocese of Sydney, to head a new office to oversee some of the reform projects.

One of the biggest challenges is the restructure of the scandal-ridden Vatican Bank, which has previously acted as a conduit for money laundering.

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Cardinal Pell’s plan gives the bank a new, smaller role in the church’s finances, sets up a new office to administer billions of dollars’ worth of investments, and reviews of the Vatican’s pension fund.

Cardinal Pell has also put the Vatican’s ponderous communications department under review, with a plan to expand on digital channels such as the ‘Pope App’ and the Pope’s Twitter account in order to reach more young people.

“Basically, the ambition is to be boringly successful, to get off the gossip pages,” Cardinal Pell said in the interview with the Boston Globe.

“The idea is to introduce modern accounting standards, to strengthen transparency, to increase self-sufficiency and coordination, and eventually to generate more income with lower costs.”

Cardinal Pell said most of the people in the Vatican were “thoroughly good, and they realise that in many ways the old world couldn’t go on”.

However, he said, “There’s sadness and a bit of antagonism in some quarters, that’s for sure.”

The reforms were fundamental to the Vatican’s finances, he said – “nobody in living memory has seen anything like this before” – and the injection of top financial people from outside the church was “extremely healthy”.

He was keen to get more women involved, calling for suggestions of female international financial figures for senior roles, saying “we’d be more than happy to take them on board”.

Cardinal Pell said the Vatican’s pension fund was under-resourced, and would need a “significant” injection of capital in the next year.

He defended the appointment of Danny Casey, which in some quarters was criticised as cronyism, saying Mr Casey had “outstanding credentials” having run Sydney’s World Youth Day. Other key positions would be filled using a professional headhunter.

Pope Francis was keeping a close eye on the reforms and met with Cardinal Pell every fortnight.

Asked if he had been given the right tools for the job, Cardinal Pell said he had been given enough authority to make reforms happen.

“We’ll continue doing it as long as Pope Francis is with us, and right now he’s looking extremely healthy,” he said.